Judgment of the General Court of 8 November 2018 — QB v ECB

(Case T-827/16) (1)

((Civil service - ECB staff - Appraisal exercise - Staff report [2015] - Possibility of being accompanied by a union representative during the appraisal interview - Infringement of the guidelines on objectivity and impartiality on the part of the assessor - Remuneration - Decision refusing the benefit of a salary progression - Admissibility of evidence - Email exchanged between a member of staff and that person’s ‘coach’ using a work email account - Liability))

(2019/C 16/47)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: QB (represented by: L. Levi, lawyer)

Defendant: European Central Bank (represented by: F. von Lindeiner and B. Ehlers, acting as Agents, assisted by B. Wägenbaur, lawyer)

Re:

Action under Article 50a of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union and Article 36.2 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank annexed to the EU Treaty and the FEU Treaty, seeking (i) annulment of the applicant’s staff report for 2015 and the ECB decision of 15 December 2015 refusing the applicant the benefit of a salary progression and, in so far as is necessary, annulment of the ECB decisions of 2 May and 15 September 2016 rejecting the applicant’s administrative appeal and claim respectively; and (ii) damages in respect of the non-pecuniary harm which the applicant claims to have suffered.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.	Annuls QB’s staff report for 2015 and the European Central Bank (ECB) decision of 15 December 2015 refusing QB the benefit of a salary progression;

2.	Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

3.	Orders the ECB to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by QB.

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(1)  OJ C 22, 23.1.2017.